Larry Nolan tends bar at the Buena Vista during the slow season in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 17, 2014.

Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Larry Nolan tends bar at the Buena Vista during the slow season in...

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Lance Brown of Santa Cruz takes a cable car ride. Brown and his wife, Barbara, were showing a visiting friend the city.

Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Lance Brown of Santa Cruz takes a cable car ride. Brown and his...

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An empty cable car awaits its turn for passengers near the Powell and Market turnaround. During the early weeks of the year, passengers don't have to wait in long lines because few tourists are around.

Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

An empty cable car awaits its turn for passengers near the Powell...

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At the usually jammed Ferry Building, you can stroll down the main hall with only a few dozen shoppers to keep you company.

Photo: CRAIG LEE

At the usually jammed Ferry Building, you can stroll down the main...

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Unlike this file photo taken at the Union Square Holiday Ice Rink in San Francisco on Christmas Eve, its easy to find space in the ice this week with fewer tourists around.

Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press

Unlike this file photo taken at the Union Square Holiday Ice Rink...

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Pier 39 is cheesy as ever, but from the merry-go-round to the famous
barking seals, it is so insistently jolly that it wins you over.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Pier 39 is cheesy as ever, but from the merry-go-round to the...

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This time of year there are plenty of seats available during this tourist hiatus.

Photo: FREDERIC LARSON

This time of year there are plenty of seats available during this...

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There wasn't even any lines at the Cowgirl Creamery.

Photo: Craig Lee

There wasn't even any lines at the Cowgirl Creamery.

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A commuter looks at the map at the Bay Area Bike Share station on Market near 2nd streets in San Francisco.

The clang of a cable car echoes down an almost empty Powell Street. Sidewalk tables are available along Fisherman's Wharf. And at the usually jammed Ferry Building, you can stroll down the main hall with only a few dozen shoppers to keep you company.

Where did all the tourists go?

"That's what I'm wondering," said one Ferry Building vendor. "Yesterday was worse; not a soul in the building."

Not to worry, says Joe D'Alessandro, president and CEO of the city's tourism agency, San Francisco Travel. This happens every year.

"After the holidays we don't see as much leisure travel," he said. "But we still have lots of convention travelers. We're still busy; it's just a different kind of busy."

This presents an opportunity that's not to be missed. For a blissful three weeks in January, it is a great time to be a tourist in your own town.

We got the idea when a couple of us walked by the cable car turnaround at Powell and Market. On a sunny afternoon around noon - a time when the line usually stretches up the block - only 40 people were waiting. When, I thought, was the last time I rode a cable car?

I walked up a couple of blocks to Sutter - the Union Square ice rink wasn't exactly packed, either; there were only four skaters - waited for the Powell-Hyde car and hopped aboard. There was plenty of room on the running board, where you could hold the pole and feel the breeze in your hair.

I'm going to go out on a limb and declare it the most perfect day in the history of San Francisco. The temperature was about 70 (!), there was just a puff of wind to push the sailboats around the bay, and the sunshine was turned up to 11.

Great views

We rolled past views of the Transamerica Pyramid, Coit Tower and the crest of Lombard Street, where only a handful of tourists were gathered. Cell phone cameras clicked, a random guy came out of an apartment house and waved, and when the car picked up speed and brakeman Grand Gochez warned us to hold on, we whooped all the way down the Hyde Street hill.

When I got off at Aquatic Park, I was understandably in need of refreshment, and the Buena Vista bar was just a few steps away. In the interest of good journalism, I ordered a trademark Irish coffee from bartender Larry Nolan, who said he came to work as a six-month replacement - 40 years ago. He was standing in front of a framed golf shirt that once belonged to the late gonzo journalist and Buena Vista regular Hunter S. Thompson, so I asked about his most famous customer.

Like all good bartenders, he answered with a story.

"Guy comes in, sits at the bar," Nolan said. "Nobody recognizes him. So I say, 'Mr. Shepard, what club did you use to hit that ball on the moon?' He said, 'Spalding six-iron.' "

It was Alan Shepard, the first American in space and the only lunar golfer in history.

I joked that I would have picked a club that was easier to hit than a six.

"Well, he said he had a really good lie," Nolan said.

Fortified with coffee, cream and Irish whiskey, I set off down Jefferson Street, past the restaurants, crab pots and T-shirt shops. I stopped when I came across a distinguished-looking gentleman sporting a tan three-piece suit and a handlebar mustache. He was Ray Salazar, but he said I could simply call him "Mr. Magic."

It was a little odd to talk to him because he was wearing a microphone and his voice was piped through a small amplifier at his feet. He said he had been doing street magic for 38 years and his age was "somewhere between 30 and 70." (I'm going to guess 70 is closer.)

"Donate $5, and I will show you a trick that will knock your socks off," he promised.

I have to admit the deception - twice switching decks of cards despite my careful observation - was pretty impressive. I checked my socks - still on - and moved along.

Down the street it was surprising to see that the guy who hides behind tree branches and jumps out to scare tourists was still there.

"David Johnson, the world-famous bushman for 36 years," he said. "The cops used to hassle me, but now it's gotten to the point that I am more of an icon than a pest."

Fun even at Pier 39

Pier 39 is cheesy as ever, but from the merry-go-round to the famous barking seals, it is so insistently jolly that it wins you over. When I caught myself considering an "Alcatraz Swim Team" T-shirt, I left.

There are times during the busy season when the F-Market trolley is so packed that it doesn't even slow down at the stops, but there are plenty of seats available during this tourist hiatus. I got on and we rolled down the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building, where most of us got off to check out the street stands and food spots. It had to be the first time I've ever walked past the Cowgirl Creamery when there wasn't a line of customers.

And finally, on a whim, I rented a Bike Share bike and rolled along Market Street to Powell. That completed the loop and concluded a sunny, magical afternoon.

As I looked at the small crowd lining up at the turnaround, I thought what brakeman Gochez said about why many locals commute on the cars.